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Westmoreland County boil-water alert lifted

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — Both tests needed to lift a drinking water alert affecting 120,000 western Pennsylvania residents have come back positive.

The boil-water advisory issued Friday by the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County for 33 communities was officially lifted Monday around 2 p.m.

The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County posted on their Facebook page, “The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County with concurrence from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has lifted the Boil Water Alert for all affected municipalities, effective immediately. Over the past two days, MAWC has conducted test sampling and all test results came back with no indication of bacteria. Customers may now resume normal water usage.”

Residents in communities along the Kiski River in Westmoreland County had been advised to boil their water because a faulty filter might have allowed water tainted with dangerous algae to contaminate its entire supply.

“It’s unfortunate and it’s certainly something that we’re sorry to have seen happened. Right now, we reacted to it according to the protocol outlined by the DEP,” MAWC Manager Chris Kerr said Monday.

Officials at a news conference Monday afternoon acknowledged a mishap in making people aware of the alert, and promised a performance review.

“We’re going to analyze step-by-step what we’ve been through for the last four days and hopefully adjust and make it better,” Kerr said.